Dec 21, 2007 3:02 pm US/Central
Officials Rule Out Toxins In Workers' Illness
ST. PAUL (AP) ―
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The working theory is that the sick workers were exposed to something in the brain tissue that triggered their immune systems to attack their own bodies. (File)
CBS
Minnesota health officials are testing more than 100 workers at a pork processing plant in Austin where a dozen have come down with a mysterious neurological ailment.
Authorities also said Friday that they have ruled out chemical toxins as the cause of the illness. The state Health Department found no link between the disinfectants used to clean the plant and neurological diseases or immune disorders.
Epidemiologist Aaron Devries, one of the investigators, said the search now turns to bacteria or viruses that might have triggered the illness. He said that's a much bigger project than ruling out a limited number of common chemicals used in the slaughterhouse.
"One of our leading hypotheses is that this is an infection that has led to this inflammatory neuropathy," Devries said.
He added: "The triggering event is often much more difficult to identify."
The 12 workers who show signs of nerve inflammation all worked at the head table, where they cut meat off hogs' heads and blasted compressed air into the skulls to remove the brains. Their symptoms include muscle weakness and tingling and numbness in the legs and arms.
The working theory is that the sick workers were exposed to something in the brain tissue that triggered their immune systems to attack their own bodies.
Health Department investigators have interviewed about 120 employees, both from the head table and from other parts of the Quality Pork Processors plant. More than 100 agreed to throat swabs and blood draws, and the agency is examining those specimens for any signs of an infection.
Results will take a few weeks, and might lead to more testing.
The plant, which supplies Hormel Foods Inc., stopped using compressed air to remove pig brains when the cluster of illnesses became public earlier this month.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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